The World's Safest Banks

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The World's Safest Banks

In a world economy plagued by troubles in the global financial system, the words “safe” and “bank” are rarely put together. The shake up of banking systems around the world raises the question: "Which banks are the safe banks?"

For the past 17 years, Global Finance has compiled a list of the World’s 50 Safest Banks, and for the first time ever deemed it necessary to publish a mid-year list. The rankings were created through the comparison of long-term credit ratings (from Moody’s Standard & Poor’s and Fitch) and analysis of total assets owned by the 500 largest banks in the world.

For ease of comparison, we’ve listed the highest ranking bank in each country, as well as key statistics for each country’s banking system. The size of the banking system was determined by value of assets held by the country's banks. It may surprise you where the safest banks in the world are located... click ahead to find out!